Bob Hamp

Adam was a theologian in the same way a man falling in love is a girlogian.  He did not study the object of his affection, he was wholly immersed in Him.  When he breathed in, God circulated through his lungs, and when he pondered his condition and situation his thoughts were endued with Godness.

Was Adam a Calvinist, or an Armenian?  Was he a charismatic or a Methodist?  Adam would likely not have fit into any of our nicely defined categories as he had not yet been fooled by the knowledge of good and evil.  Knowledge, especially his own did not color his experience, expectations or self-awareness.  He just knew God, and saw through His eyes.

He knew God in the same way a scuba diver knows the water, He knew God in the way that each of us knows air.   With each breath, the source of life circulates.  His knowledge of oxygen levels, CO2 mixtures, lung capacity and respiratory process interfered not the least with the deep breaths he gulped in every moment, and his ability to benefit from them.

Ironically, other than Jesus, Adam knew God better than any human yet to walk the face of the earth.  He still had not read Systematic Theology.  He just walked in the garden in the cool of the day and drank deeply from the Source of all Life.

I think he might have gazed curiously at our attempt to “get our theology right”.  It is unlikely he would have judged us, because he was quite secure in his own relationship, and therefore in himself.  He was quite like the loving God, in whose image he was created.  So he would not have judged the earnest young theologians who pre-suppose that feeding cognition helps them know God more.

I think he might gaze with a similar amused curiosity at our attempts to figure out how church should look.  Are we missional?  Are we attractional?  Are we seeker friendly?  I think he might have calmly gone about his business establishing God’s rule over the creation.  He might have smiled as he pointed out the natural simplicity of banishing sickness, and broadcasting life in his day-to-day activities.  He might even have invited you to try it yourself.  I suspect he would not criticize you even if you criticized him.

I suspect he would love enough to speak to you directly about the things he saw in you that might be self-destructive or self-promoting.

I shudder to think that we might try to correct him in his theology and approach.  Though I suspect we probably would.  After all, we have knowledge, right?